Air conditioning apparatus



April 2, 1940.. R NDALL AL 2,195,768

AIR CONDITIONING APPARATUS Filed May :51, 1938 Z5 4%. a? 1/ Max Cmmdau, lmrsh Sander Patented Apr. 2, 1940 I UNITED STATES A PATENT OFFICE Application May 31, 1938, Serial No. 211,069

2 Claims.

' This invention relates to air conditioning apparatus, and has particular reference to improvements in air conditioning apparatus of the general type comprising a casing, means for circulating air therethrough, and means within said casing for moistening the air during its circulation therethrough.

According to the invention, the casing of the apparatus is provided with a water compartment,

the air is circulated through the casing above water contained in said compartment, a moisture carrier unit having passageways therethrough is rotatably mounted in the casing in a position to have its lower portion immersed in water contained in the water compartment and to have the air pass through the passageways in the upper portion thereof, and vanes are provldedon said unit whereby air circulated through the casing pauses said unit to rotate. Thus, the upper portion of the moisture carrier unit, with which the extending in the same direction as the air fiow.

In either case, a special object of the invention is to provide said disks, or cylinders, as the case may be, with vanes extending into the passagethrough, but, on the contrary, permit flow of air ways therebetween to be acted upon by the circulated air to cause the moisture carrier unit to be rotated, and to shape said vanes so that, within their lengths, they do not completely obstruct said passageways against flow of air theresubstantially throughout all portions of said passageways.

Another special object of the invention, both from a practical, economical manufacturing standpoint, and from a' utilitarian standpoint, is to form the vanes by bending them from the disks or cylinders comprising the moisture carrier unit,

I openings thereby being provided in said elements adjacent to the vanes through which some of the circulated air may flow from one to another of the passageways for most effective moisture treatment.

The present apparatus may be constructed for use in motor vehicles as well as in the form of a I fixed or portable unit for room air conditioning purposes. If it is used in a motor vehicle the I water may tend to surge due to various difierent movements of the vehicle.- Accordingly, another special object of the invention is to provide practicalmeans to limit such surging.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will become more fully apparent as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of parts as will be hereinafter more fully described, illus-' trated in the accompanying drawing and defined in the appended claims.

,In the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters of reference denote corresponding parts in related views:

Figure 1 is a verticalsection through a form of apparatus embodying features of the invention and constructed particularly for use in motor vehicles, air craft, watercraft or the like.

' Figure 2 is a horizontal section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of one of the disks included in the moisture carrier unit.

Referring to the drawing in detail, first with reference to the particular form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, A designates, generally, a rectangular casing which may be formed from any suitable material into any desired height, width and length and which is composed of side walls II], III, end walls II, II, abottom wall I2 and a removable cover I3.

Extending from one of the side walls In an communicating with the casing through an opening in said side wall, is an air inlet duct I4, while extending from the other of said side walls and communicating through an opening therein with the casing, is an air outlet duct l5.

The duct His-provided with a branch I6, and within said duct is a valve H which may .be swung to close said duct outwardly of said branch and to simultaneously open the latter, or to close said branch and to simultaneously open'said duct outwardly of said branch. The branch I 6 is open to the atmosphere and the duct I 4 may, if desired, be connected with a heating device. Thus, by positioning the valve I! so that it closes the iii duct I4 outwardly of the branch I6 and opens the latter, air at atmospheric temperature may be admitted to the'casing. On the other hand. by positioning the valve I! so that it closes the branch I6 and opens-the duct I4, heated air may be admitted to the casing. In this connection it is pointed out that the apparatus illustrat d in Fig. 1 is particularly designed for use in utomobiles and that the duct I4 is intended for connection, if desired, with an air heating device, so that simply by manipulation of the valve I! either atmospheric or heated air may be admitted to the apparatus.

In the duct I5 is mounted a motor driven fan I8 which, in operation, produces a flow of air from the duct I 4 through the casing and outwardly from the casing through said duct IS, the air being caused to circulate beneath an ice compartment i9 in the upper portion of the casing because said ice compartment is interposed between said ducts and extends from end to end of the casing, and because-the side wall of said ice compartment adjacent to the side wall of the casing from which the duct l4 extends, reaches to said casing side wall above said duct.

Mounted within the casing below the ice compartment I9 is a moisture carrier unit designated generally as B. This unit extends substantially from end to end of the casing and is'composed of a plurality of disks 20 suitably mounted in spaced apart relationship along a shaft 2i which is horizontally disposed, transversely with respect to the direction of air flow through the casing, and which may be journaled in any suitable manner for free rotation. For example, the ends of said shaft may be mounted in ball bearings 22 and said ball bearings may be supported by the bottom flanges of angle-iron members 23 fastened to the end walls of thecasing, tongues 24 being bent outwardly from the vertical flanges of said angle-iron members to hold the ball bearings against sidewise movements. thus are self-alining and the moisture carrier unit thereby is very freely rotatable.

Extending laterallyfrom each disk 20 is a series of any desired number of radially or substantially radially disposed vanes 25 which are spaced equal angular distances apart and which are of triangular shape with their wider ends preferably dispcsed outwardly. Preferably, too, the outer ends of said vanes extend to the peripheries of the disks 20 and are of widths corresponding to the spaced apart relationship of said disks,

whereby they serve as spacing elements for the peripheral portions of said disks. In any event, said vanes are disposed in the passageways between the disks 20. Moreover, the vanes of the several disks are displaced preferably equal amounts angularly and in the same direction. In other words, related vanes of the several disks aredis'posed spirally of the unit B.v Accordingly, air flowing through the passageways between the upper portions of the disks 20 impinges against the vanes 25 and produces rotation of the unit B.

The bottom portion of the casing A comprises a water compartment which may be filled through a filling opening 26 normally closed by a plug or .cap 21 and which may be drained through a drain opening 28 normally closed by a plug or cap 29.

The disks 20 of the moisture carrier unit B have their lower portions disposed to be immersed in water contained in the compartment B and their upper portions disposed to remain above the level of water in said compartment 13 when water in said compartment is at its highestmost level. Moreover, the tops of the disks 20 are disposed closely adjacent to the bottom of the ice compartment i9. Accordingly, substantially all air flowing through the casing is required to pass through the passageways between the disks 20, and in passing through said passageways it acts, as aforesaid, upon the vanes 25 to rotate said disks, thereby causing newly wettedportions. of

The bearings 2i the latter constantly to be brought uppermost. The air therefore constantly contacts with newly wetted portions of the disks and is moistened and, to a considerable extent, cleansed of foreign matter by reason of such matter being de- I posited in the water films on the disks 20. Moreover, if the water is cool it serves to cool the air. and, in any event, if ice is contained in the compartment IS the air is cooled due to its contact with and flow beneath said compartment.

Due to the triangular shape of the vanes 25 air is permitted to flow through the passageways between the disks 20 substantially throughout the height of said passageways above the water level and to contact with substantially all portions of said disks above the water level, whereby it is most effectively moisture treated. Moreover, if, as shown, the vanes 25 are comprised by portions of the disks 20 bent from said disks, the disks inherently are provided with openings 30 of the same shape as said vanes adjacent to the latter, and the air may circulate through these openings between the passageways, whereby it is further most effectively moisture treated.

Assuming installation of the apparatus in an automobile or in any place where it may be tilted, it is apparent that water contained in the water compartment might, as a result of pronounced tilting ofthe apparatus, tend to surge undesirable amounts upwardly along the sides of the casing A. Accordingly, means are provided to limit such surging, said means comprising, in the present instance, baflle plates 3| hinged to the side walls 01. the casing at suitable points above the water level and having their lower ends free and provided with suitable floats 32. Under the influence of gravity the plates 3| normally assume substantially vertical positions in which they do not interfere in any way with flow of air through the casing, but when the water surges it acts on the floats 32 to swing the plates 3| outwardly above the water, whereby surging of the water is limited.

According to the preferred form of the invention holes are provided in the bottom of the ice "compartment to permit cold water to drip irom said compartment upon the elements comprising the moisture carrier unit and, in the case of the Figs. 1 to 3 form of the invention, through the passageways between said elements, whereby I such water is eflective to treat the air.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawing it is believed that the construction, operation and advantages of the present apparatus will be readll ily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains. It is desired to point out. however, that while only certain specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, the same manifestly is capable of various other specific embodiments within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims.

- We claim:

1. Air conditioning apparatus comprising a casing having in the bottom thereof a water compartment open at its top, means for circulating air through said casing above water contained in said compartment, a moisture carrier unit comprising a series of elements spaced apart to provide a series of passageways therebetween and mounted in said casing for rotation about a horizontal axis with its lower portion, disposed to be immersed in water contained in saidcompartment and itsupper portion to have the II circulated air pass through said passageways, means whereby said unit'is caused to be rotated byair circulated through said casing, the side walls of the casing being spaced from the sides of said-unit, and means .to limit upward surging of the water between said side walls and the sides of said unit when the casing it tiltedl '2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which MARSH SANDERS. 

